Two years later, Marine Headquarters.
Ross appeared soundlessly inside an ordinary residence.
The house still retained the simple, elegant Japanese style of twenty years ago.
Wooden lattice windows, low eaves, rooms covered in tatami mats, and the ancient cherry tree in the courtyard.
Everything seemed frozen in time, unchanged.
"Time truly is a marvelous thing."
Standing in the middle of the room with his back to the two figures behind him, Ross said with a soft laugh,
"It can take away many things, and it can bring many things as well. Don't you agree?"
He slowly turned around, his gaze falling upon the brother and sister behind him.
Hiyori Kozuki wore a pink kimono, its hem embroidered with delicate cherry blossom patterns. At her waist hung the Zanpakuto Ross had personally given her.
She stood there gracefully, her expression cold and her bearing detached from the world, though a faint chill had always lingered in her eyes.
Beside her, Momonosuke's rather lecherous-looking face was currently plastered with a fawning, ingratiating smile.
"Your Excellency, you are absolutely right. But time cannot truly change anything," he said cautiously with a flattering grin. "Take this old house, for example. It should have been torn down long ago. Keeping it only wastes space."
Momonosuke was panicking inside.
Guys, who could understand this?
Why had Ross suddenly decided on a whim to come to the former site of the Land of Wano?
What he understood even less was why Ross had specifically come to this old Kozuki Family residence, which had never been demolished.
This place should have been destroyed long ago.
Leaving it here always gave him an ominous feeling.
"Idiot, shut up!"
Hiyori Kozuki frowned and shot Momonosuke a disgusted glance.
Only this idiot could manage to flatter someone so badly that he